


Love in Deadly Places

by Spunky0ne



Category: Bleach
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-01
Updated: 2015-09-01
Packaged: 2018-04-18 12:37:21
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,601
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4706312
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spunky0ne/pseuds/Spunky0ne
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When Ywach destroys Muken, Aizen escapes and finds a surprisingly alive Gin in the wreckage. Although planning to kill Gin, Aizen is intrigued when he discovers what Kurotsuchi was doing to his former comrade, and he decides to keep Gin alive to continue the experiment. Trapped with Aizen in the living world, Gin is stunned at what happens between them...</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Old Enemies

_It's cold..._

_always so cold._

_Almost silent._

_Lonely._

_It doesn't feel good to be powerless._

_But these things are only temporary._

_For those who travel the cycle of life, twenty thousand years is a long time. But to a man bound to the hougyoku, twenty thousand years is nothing. I breathe in and out. My heart beats. It passes the time. And although being ice cold and alone is a bother, I am not without hope. In fact, I know there is no reason to despair. The time will come when I will be unbound and freed._

_Someday._

A deep rumble ran through the cellblock, causing ominous cracking sounds in the rock walls and ceiling, making bits break away and drop, some striking the bound Aizen lightly as they fell. His one uncovered brown eye rotated to observe the fallen pieces and his lips smiled.

"I see," he said softly, "You have made your move, haven't you? I think we know what comes next."

The sound of panicked voices trickled in from outside of his cell, then he heard the sounds of running feet and the lift that would carry the fleeing guards to the surface.

_Fools. He is only going to kill you. He is on his way here, and he has but to look in your direction and you are lost. But he can't hurt me. He can't kill me. He can't steal my soul when I die, because I simply won't die. So, he will ask. He will ask and I..._

His thoughts flitted away as heavier footsteps sounded, approaching his door and pausing. A low, echoing click sounded, then the door creaked open to reveal the tall, rakishly smiling form of Ywach. He moved into position in front of the heavily bound shinigami and smiled down at him.

"Aizen Sousuke."

"Ywach."

"The attack is underway, and I come to ask you to join me now. You refused before, when you were unsure as to how I would accomplish my goals. As you see, I am capable of doing everything I claimed. Come with me now."

A wicked smirk overtook Aizen's lips and he laughed softly.

"No."

Ywach moved closer, his eyes narrowing and his fingertips reaching out, then sliding down Aizen's partially covered face.

"You have to realize I am more powerful than you, and that I will find the way to deprive you of that stone you created. You may think you have protected yourself by bonding with the hougyoku, but you are not safe, Aizen Sousuke. If you defy me, you will only be as dead as all of the ones out there. You feel it, don't you? All of them...taichous, fukutaichous, everyone down to the last unseated officer, and all of the unskilled troops. All of them will fall at the feet of my sternritters. That is a guarantee. I go next to do what you could not."

"Oh?" Aizen queried curiously.

"I am going to kill Yamamoto."

"Are you, now?" Aizen purred softly, "I see."

"Would you like to watch?"

"No, I am comfortable here, thank you."

"Very well," Ywach said, showing no sign of anger, "Stay here and wait for the end, if you like. I will come back for you."

He leaned forward and offered the man an affectionate kiss on the partially leatherbound cheek.

"You are a fascinating man, Aizen Sousuke. I look forward to the years we will have together after my conquest of our worlds."

Aizen gazed back at him quietly, offering no reply. Ywach let out a frustrated breath and turned away.

"I told you there was no shinigami alive that could do what I will do. You will see. In the end, you too will belong to me. You are only delaying the inevitable with your stubbornness. But I tire of playing with you. Soon enough, you will kneel at my feet with the survivors and beg for my favor. Do not worry. I will not forget you then, Sousuke."

Aizen watched in silence as the leader of the quincies walked out of his cell, leaving the door carelessly open and killing everyone in his path as he left.

"No shinigami alive can do what you will, you say?" Aizen breathed sedately, "I told you before, I am no shinigami. Even sealed, the hougyoku will carry me higher, and when I subjugate it..."

His thoughts paused and his eye rotated about as a deep rumble went through the depths of the shinigami prison. The sound rose slowly into a heavy, pounding roar and blue light flooded the area, instantly incinerating everything around him.

_So, you wish to make a statement, Aizen thought, smiling as the stone enclosure, the fallen bodies, everything down to his leather and metal bindings burned away and the column of blue light swallowed him, If I was a simple shinigami, your power would have devoured me too. But you have only tasted me, and you know you cannot claim me. How kind of you to open the door for me. I will show you the same courtesy when I destroy you for underestimating me._

He stretched his aching arms and legs, slowly rising, then swaying for a moment as he adjusted to his returned freedom. His eyes scanned the hollowed out area around him and the wreckage of the damaged prison, seeking the best way out. He found a workable pathway and started along it, marveling at the sharp contrast between the cleanly swept and emptied place that had been his cell, and the rest of the prison that Ywach had reduced to near ruins.

_I am surprised he didn't just vaporize the entire place, but then, he is not yet at full power, which is why he was so accommodating. He won't be that way when he returns. He will be a monster. But he will find a more powerful one waiting for him._

_Yes, he will be surprised._

He turned his full attention to escape, now that Ywach's eyes were turned towards the captain commander. Picking his way carefully through the debris, he focused on the grey light filtering in and worked his way upwards. A long hallway opened up before him, surprising him with how well it had endured the devastating assault on the prison. He followed it to the end and started to open the door there, then paused as a low, pained groan sounded somewhere nearby.

It wasn't the sound, itself, but its familiarity that made him pause and listen more closely. Another sound of pain followed, and it only confirmed what Aizen's stunned mind had first registered. His reduced senses picked up a flicker of life in the tumble of wreckage, off to one side. The former taichou headed in that direction and began lifting away some of the debris.

"Who's there?" panted a male voice that made Aizen smile wickedly.

"Hold still," he told the trapped shinigami, "I will get you out."

At the sound of his voice, he heard a shocked inhale, then the still partially buried person began to struggle madly.

"Get away from me!" he gasped, pushing away at Aizen's hands.

Aizen's arm curled around the trapped man's upper body, and he hauled him out of the mess of stone and steel.

"Stop! Let me go!"

Aizen laughed, setting his captive down and ruffling the man's silver hair with his fingers.

"There now. That's better, isn't it, Gin?"

Ice blue eyes glared up at him defiantly and Gin's hands clenched.

"How did I get here?" Gin demanded, "Where are we? I thought you...!"

"You thought what?" Aizen asked, frowning.

"I thought that Kurosaki Ichigo...would have defeated you."

"But he did," Aizen explained, "You are sitting in the heart of Muken, or in a devastated section of it. And I am extremely curious to know, my friend, first how you survived and second, why you are here. I heard that your friend, Rangiku, had you buried in the Rukongai after I killed you. Yet, here you are. But you don't remember?"  
Gin blinked slowly, taking in Aizen's disheveled appearance and the look of the wreckage that surrounded him.

"If this isn't from your battle with Ichigo, then what happened? Did you...?"

"Oh no, I was bound too tightly to escape, and was given twenty thousand years as sentence for my treachery."

"Then, who...?"

"Ywach."

The name alone brought a look of horror to Gin's already spooked eyes.

"You are beginning to wish you had stayed dead, ne?" Aizen chuckled.

"You're very jovial," Gin noted, "Are you going to finish killing me now?"

"I am more curious why they saved you. You say you don't remember anything?"

"Only one thing," Gin said, looking down at his slightly shaking hands, "I heard that bastard, Kurotsuchi's voice saying that I deserved a fate worse than death, and he was pleased to give me that. I don't remember anything else at all."

"We should..."

Aizen paused as Gin made a sound of distress and sank the rest of the way to the stone floor.

"Ah. I suppose I will have to search for clues alone then. Rest a bit. We'll have more time to catch up later."

He listened for a moment to the sounds of raging battle that echoed in the distance, then turned his attention to the area where he had found Gin trapped. A quick search uncovered a scattering of papers, but it was too dark to read them properly, so he shoved them into his clothes and made his way back to his unconscious colleague.

"I would simply kill you and leave you behind, but I am very, very curious as to what exactly Kurotsuchi Mayuri was doing with you, here in Muken. He is a dastardly man, but his intelligence is near that of Urahara Kisuke's. If he was experimenting on you, there must have been a compelling reason. I am interested in discovering that."  
He gave Gin's unresponsive form a chilling smile.

"When I have done that, there will be time to kill you much more slowly, my friend. For some reason, your betrayal stings quite deeply, even though I knew it was coming. I thought running you through and tearing your body apart would cure me of that feeling, but it really hasn't. I do wonder what will...and why I still care. You were interesting, but you were only a bug I squashed. Someone put the pieces of you back together, but that is easily enough undone."

He walked back to Gin and lifted his limp body, then continued out the door and up into the less damaged section of the prison. The guard posts stood abandoned and prisoners within the still locked cells, banged on the doors urgently. Aizen walked blithely past, ignoring them as he rose upward, then exited the deserted compound.

"Where are you taking me?" Gin moaned, only partially cognizant.

"I have a place in the living world, if you can open a senkaimon. My powers are still sealed. And I don't suppose you will want to...?"

He paused, looking on in surprise as Gin's fingertips touched his wrist and returned power flooded Aizen's body.

"Why did you do that?" he asked, looking down into Gin's hazy eyes.

"I know you're going to kill me when you have whatever it is you want from me," the silver haired man surmised, "But right now, we are both fugitives. It makes sense to have one of us be able to defend us."

"I did notice that although you have your powers, likely because they didn't think you a threat while unconscious, your reiatsu is dangerously weak. But there will be time to rest and eat when we arrive at the house in the living world. In any case, thank you...although I notice that you didn't also release the hougyoku."

"The seal is too strong. The one on you was simpler."

"Hmmm."

"You don't believe me?" Gin asked, blinking dizzily.

"You have lied to me before."

"Touchè," Gin chuckled wearily, "But I really don't know how to get that one off, not that I would if I did know."

"Very well, I will be thankful for small favors, but let us go. A few more minutes and either the soldats will start showing up here or shingami forces will begin counting their losses, if any of them are still alive."

"I know you hate us all," Gin sighed, "but don't you feel anything at all about what that guy is doing?"

"I am annoyed."

"Oh?"

"There is no need to be so messy and cause so much unnecessary suffering. As you, yourself, demonstrated so capably, revenge is best served swiftly and cleanly, with no warning, so that the person dies quickly and in full knowledge of just who has undone them."

"Sousuke..."

"It was a brilliant move, Gin. It just didn't work," Aizen said, smiling at him, "But it appears I didn't do a capable job of killing you either. Well, that or Kurotsuchi was very determined that you should live."

Gin said nothing more, but only looked back at him quietly. He started to speak, but then felt an odd twinge in his midsection and slid a hand down to rub the area. His breath caught as his fingertips encountered an odd rounding on his lower abdomen.

"Wh-what...?"

"Gin?" Aizen mused, gazing at the other man as curiosity gave way to amazement, then to shock and terror.

"What is this?" Gin panted, staggering back and nearly losing his balance, "What did that bastard do to me?"

Aizen's flash step sounded suddenly and a shock of kido dropped Gin easily back into his arms.

"We will have to discuss this later," Aizen said brusquely, "We need to get out of Soul Society. Things are falling apart here. We will figure this out when we reach my house in the living world. I must say, Gin, you have me far too curious to kill you now. I am very interested to know what Kurotsuchi Mayuri was doing to you. You looked ready to jump out of your skin. I don't think I've ever seen you that scared...not since I killed you."

He laughed softly as the senkaimon opened in front of him, then stepped inside and glanced briefly back over his shoulder.

"Yamamoto, Byakuya and Kenpachi all down?" he mused, "You are a monster, Ywach. But you will find very soon that a monster can never match...a pure demon."


	2. The Chamber

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> While Aizen and Gin explore what was done to Gin's body, something strange happens...

_What were you up to, Kurotsuchi Mayuri_? Aizen wondered, leaning over Gin's unconscious body and opening his yukata to expose his former colleague's slightly rounded abdomen.

His eyes blinked slowly and he studied the area closely, then reached over and picked up the papers he had retrieved from the wreckage of Muken.

_Unfortunately, a number of pages were lost. Enough so that, although I know that the chamber in Gin's body was meant to grow something, most likely a soul, it isn't clear what kind of soul would be grown there. It is unfortunate that with the war raging in the Seireitei, it won't be so easy to go back and search the twelfth division and the prison for answers. Ah well...anything that crazed scientist can dream up, I can understand._

He laid his hands on Gin's abdomen, focusing deeply and releasing his reiatsu to sink under the pale flesh and wrap around the mysterious device. He was immediately fascinated at the complexity, the light but sturdy materials used, carefully balanced so as not to disrupt the systems of the soul they were placed in. The chamber had the look of a womb and appeared to have attachments that drew reiatsu from the host.

 _To bind with whatever else fills the chamber_ , Aizen surmised, _probably so that his body won't reject the implanted chamber and whatever it holds. Also, some of the connections seem like they might draw reiatsu to support and protect the contents of the chamber. This is very clearly some kind of growth chamber, though I have never seen the like._

His fingers slid more intimately along Gin's flesh and as they did so, a memory invaded, distracting him from his efforts.

_"You have such lovely, white skin...so soft," he murmured into Gin's flushed ear as he ran his hand along his lover's soft, pale belly, then let it slide down between the slender white thighs that parted easily for him._

_He teased Gin's warm, responsive cock, plundering his mouth hungrily. Gin's hands spread out on his lover's shoulders, then clenched as Aizen's fingers slid into his hungry entrance and began to prepare him._

_"O-oh! Ungh...ah...hah!" Gin panted unintelligibly, writhing as Aizen's fingers pushed in deeply and slid out again, thrusting and stretching the sensitive tissues, "S-sousuke!"_

_There was something deeply erotic about hearing Gin's voice lose its natural, slightly sarcastic edge and take on this unscripted, more passionate sound._

_"Sousuke!" he panted harder, raising his hips and writhing as Aizen's probing fingers found the sensitive nerves within him and stroked the area teasingly, "Ah!"_

_A lovely sheen of sweat broke out on his forehead and his eyes opened slightly, just enough that Aizen could see the hint of icy blue. The impact of meeting just that much of his lover's eyes was enough to make his cock harden painfully. It sent a warm throb of desire through his head and limbs and he abandoned all sense of playfulness. He positioned himself and entered Gin in a single, hard thrust, watching a mix of pain and rising heat erupt onto his lover's pale features. ___

_Barely giving Gin a moment to recover, he laced their fingers together and squeezed firmly as his heavy thrusts began. And even for having a slender and more delicate looking build, the silver-haired man was surprisingly vigorous in his response, raising his hips wantonly, grinding hard against the body on top of his and making the most lovely and erotic sounds Aizen's ears had ever heard._

"How disappointing that it was all just a machination," Aizen whispered, pushing the memory away and continuing his examination of Gin's limp body.

But even trying to ignore what he remembered couldn't quite filter out everything.

_He woke late at night to find Gin gone from their bed and standing alone on the balcony outside their room. He slid out of bed, leaving his yukata carelessly open as he approached his lover from behind and wrapped his arms around. He was surprised when Gin turned his head away quickly and he felt a shiver go through the silver-haired man's body._

_"Gin?"_

_He captured Gin's chin and turned his head back, freezing as the moonlight caught where a single tear was sliding down his pale cheek._

Aizen let out a skeptical breath.

"I wonder, my slippery friend, what that tear was...guilt, perhaps? A deception? I am not sure. But it doesn't matter. You ceased to matter to me a long time ago."

Somewhere in the house, a clock chimed the late hour and Aizen sighed.

"I suppose I should give this some time for reflection," he said quietly, "But, since I don't want you slipping away while I'm sleeping..."

He captured one thin wrist and started to bind it with kido. But as he began the enchantment, Gin's eyes opened wide and locked on his with a deeply* hazed, blank looking stare.

"Gin?"

The silver-haired man said nothing to him. He only fixed his eyes on Aizen's, and flares of light erupted between the hougyoku in Aizen's muscular chest and the chamber in Gin's belly. Aizen's eyes flooded with the rising light and took on a haze as deep and profound as Gin's. He reeled, trying to maintain control, but felt it slip away completely as Gin lifted himself and kneeled in front of him. He watched dazedly as Aizen bared himself, then fell between his thighs, holding on with tightened hands as he sought his former lover's swollen erection and inhaled it into his mouth. Senseless blue eyes looked up at Aizen as Gin's mouth slid up and down his slick length, pausing to dip into the wet slit and tease him shamelessly.

Aizen watched through unseeing eyes, his cock hardening in response to Gin's intense ministrations, his heart pounding and his desire for the silver-haired man swelling until he toppled Gin and plunged his hardened manhood into his slender body thoughtlessly, thrusting mindlessly, while Gin writhed against him, as hungry for the contact as he was desperate to offer it. Neither man spoke a word as their coupling continued and swiftly reached its peak. Gin gasped as he felt Aizen's body stiffen and shudder, then an explosion of heat and light erupted all through his possessed body. The two groaned in surrender and collapsed haphazardly on the bed, still entangled in each others' bodies. They laid still for a time afterwards, still not speaking, nor even looking at each other as their bodies slowly recovered.

Several minutes later, Aizen slid his damp penis out of Gin's body and abandoned the silver-haired man, retreating to his shower, where he quickly bathed, then dropped into his bed. Gin acted likewise, slipping into the shower and washing himself thoroughly before returning to his bed. In their separate rooms, the two men fell into a deep sleep, neither moving until well after the sun had risen the next morning.

Gin opened his eyes first, then groaned softly at the pain in his loins and abdomen. He looked under the covers and found himself naked. Looking closer, he found bruises on his inner thighs and a slight, sticky dribble that had leaked out of him as he slept. Anger flared in his insides.

"I see you haven't changed at all, Aizen Sousuke," he said, gripping at the sheets, "You knew I wouldn't give in to you anymore, so you just took what you wanted!"

He stiffened and his body shook with fury.

"Bastard!"

He abandoned the bed and grabbed his yukata from the nightstand, wrapping it quickly around his body and listening carefully at his bedroom door before slipping out into the hallway.

_You were stupid to bathe me and leave me unbound. Did you think I was too simple to realize you had raped me while I was unconscious? Damn you, Aizen Sousuke!_

He fled to the door at the front of the house, pausing to look for any kind of security that might impede him or an alarm that might be tripped.

_How careless..._

He started to open the door, then stiffened as a firm hand pushed it closed again. Gin loosed a sound of distress and struggled wildly as Aizen's arm wrapped around his throat and a staying hand wrapped around one of his wrists.

"Let go of me, you bastard!" Gin seethed, a twinge of surprise going through him as he used a throb of kido meant to separate them and found it actually worked.

But a moment later, Aizen's powerful reiatsu swelled around the two, pressing in harshly on Gin until the silver-haired man struggled to breathe and his legs quivered beneath him.

"It would be unwise for you to go out there," Aizen reminded him in a warning tone, "You know what is going on, Gin. The quincies have begun their attack on Soul Society."

"I don't care!" Gin hissed furiously, "Anything and anyplace is better than staying here and being raped by you!"

Aizen frowned.

"Raped...by me?" he said, studying the silver-haired man more closely, "Gin, what are you talking about?"

"Don't think you can lie to me!" Gin snapped, "I was recently bathed and naked in my bed. Only you and I were in this house and when I woke, I had your semen running down my thigh! I never agreed to go to bed, or anywhere else with you! I unsealed your powers for you, and now, I only want for us to go our separate ways! I need to find Rangiku and..."

"No," Aizen said sternly, "There is no way that you are going to return to Soul Society right now. The quincies will destroy you."

"What do you care?" Gin demanded, "I don't belong to you! I am not going to stay here and be your prisoner or your sex slave! I am leaving!"

Gin gasped and panted harshly as Aizen's reiatsu tightened around him. He managed a staggering step, groaning with the effort of moving, but reeled inside as Aizen's power halted him and brought him very slowly to his knees.

"I know that you despise me right now," Aizen said calmly into his an angrily flushed earlobe, "You are beside yourself with wanting to get away, but you are not thinking clearly, and going back now would only get you killed."

"Th-then...that would give you what you want right now, wouldn't it?" Gin seethed, "So, why are you holding me back? Let me go if you think I'm just going to die."

"Sorry," Aizen said in that same calm voice, "but unfortunately for you, you are more useful to me alive than dead right now."

Gin's distressed eyes caught sight of the slight rounding of his belly and a shudder raked his slender body.

"Y-you!" he said unsteadily, "You are doing something to me, aren't you? You brought me here to study what that twelfth division maniac did to me and you couldn't resist experimenting on me yourself!"

"I didn't do anything to you," Aizen corrected him, "I did examine the chamber that Kurotsuchi Mayuri placed in your body, but I did not do any experimentation of my own."

"Then, how do you explain me being bathed? Waking up naked? Your cum in me!"

"Are you so sure it was me?" Aizen asked, "I am, it seems, having trouble making sense of what happened after I left you in that room."

"What are you talking about? If someone came here, why would they just rape me and leave? You're insane! Now, let me go! I'm leaving!"

"May I remind you," Aizen said coldly, intensifying his reiatsu until Gin was gasping for breath, "that you have released the seal on my powers and I am now stronger than you? You have no choice but to submit to me, Gin."

The silver-haired man loosed a final gasping sob and collapsed at Aizen's feet. The elder shinigami immediately lowered his reiatsu and lifted Gin's unconscious form into his arms, carrying him back into his room and laying him down in his bed. He spent several minutes placing careful bindings on Gin's wrists, ankles and at his waist, then moved methodically around the small house, placing the protections and defenses he had meant to before.

_I don't know what happened last night, I must confess. But it can't be as Gin said, because if someone did enter the house, why indeed, just assault Gin and leave? Gin was right about that. Something else happened._

He finished with the house defenses, then walked back to Gin's room and sat down next to his former lover. As Gin slept, Aizen's hands opened his yukata, then he examined the unconscious man and took a sample of the small bit of leaking fluid from his inner thigh. He left the room and moved on to his laboratory, where he ran a DNA test on the retrieved semen, then he compared it to a sample of his own DNA. The result made his eyes widen in surprise.

"I see. Something made us lose our senses last night and we did have sex. I don't remember doing so and neither does Gin. But it is suspicious..."

He frowned as he considered the facts.

_I was being held in Muken after a trial and sentencing, but Gin was supposed to be dead. Yet, not only was he not dead, Kurotsuchi Mayuri was experimenting on him and Gin also was being held in Muken, although it appears only a limited number of people knew he was there. He was never given a trial, which they should have given him if they found him alive, so why the secrecy?_

_What is special about Gin?_

He considered the question silently, walking back to Gin's room and gazing down at his former lover as he slept soundly. He moved closer, sitting down again and laying his hands on Gin's bare belly, scanning the area and frowning as he felt something different this time. He froze for a moment, then looked closer, his eyes rounding and his expression one of fascination as he studied the small cluster more intently.

"We have made a new soul?" he whispered, "Gin is pregnant? But why would...?"

He swiftly abandoned the idea of the Gotei wanting his powers to continue in a child, but reeled as he tried to imagine their thinking.

_But I do not know if Kurotsuchi taichou was doing this under orders or if he was just playing god on his own. Maybe he wanted to harness my power or..._

He returned to his laboratory and gathered several devices, then walked back to Gin's room and conducted a deeper investigation. With each moment, he grew more fascinated.

_This is not as simple as us making a child. There is something more going on here. But it will take time to unravel..._

_And it is worrisome that it appears whatever that man did, Gin and I were both overcome by it. I must not let myself be taken over like that again. Gin is securely bound, but I am going to have a harder time containing myself. I suppose that I could drug myself so I cannot move. I am immortal, so I take no risk in doing that. I must do something._

He paused as Gin stirred and started to wake, gazing quietly at him as the silver-haired man gained cognizance and realized that he had been bound to his bed. His eyes opened slightly and met Aizen's with unbridled hatred, growing even more hateful as he sensed that his reiatsu had been sealed away.

"You are being much more careful," Gin observed, "more like yourself."

"That should tell you something about what happened here last night."

"You mean when you raped me?" Gin asked indignantly.

"I did not rape you," Aizen corrected him, "The sex we had was...not consented to by either of us, to my knowledge. Did you say you have no memory of lying with me?"

"I don't remember anything! You made me unconscious, remember?" Gin spat.

"I do," Aizen confirmed, "But Gin, didn't it seem strange to you that I not only did not bind you in any way, despite bringing you here against your will?"

Gin gave him a mystified look and said nothing.

"And aren't you curious as to why a person as careful as me would not create barriers around this place, if not to keep others out, to keep you in?"

"What does that matter? You had sex with me while I was unconscious!"

"We were both essentially unconscious, from what I can tell," Aizen explained, "Apparently, you were not alone in being tampered with by that fool scientist in Muken."

"You are saying that he wanted us to have sex? Why would he do that?" Gin asked, shaking his head.

He frowned down at the bump on his belly where the chamber was concealed. He looked back at Aizen and his eyes opened wide, revealing a look of distress unlike he had ever seen the silver-haired man wear.

"Gin?"

"He...? That man...?" Gin stammered.

"I am sure that is not the whole of the situation, but yes, it seems that Kurotsuchi Mayuri was using me to impregnate you."

_He doesn't need the whole truth right now...after all, if having my child is enough to scare Gin like this...then whatever Kurotsuchi really planned might unhinge him completely._


	3. Walls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aizen returns to a time in his and Gin's past that could have changed everything.

"You should eat something," Aizen said, leaning over Gin and placing several electrodes on his bared chest and abdomen, then turning to examine the readings on the monitor he was connected to, "You won't do yourself or our child any favors by slowly starving the two of you. Go on. I brought food, and I left enough slack in your bonds to permit that much movement. Eat, Gin."

"Are you trying to deceive me into thinking that you really care what happens to me?" Gin said in a distant tone, "I'm not stupid, Sousuke. You only care about keeping me alive so you can study the thing you put inside me."

Aizen arched a disapproving eyebrow.

"That is no way to talk about our child, Gin. And I think you are aware that if you do not eat, I will only be forced to feed you through a needle. This way will be much more comfortable for you. You should stop being so stubborn and eat."

Gin considered silently for a moment, then moved one hand enough to dislodge the food tray from his lap. He watched without changing his expression as the tray toppled from his lap and crashed to the floor.

"Unwise," Aizen reprimanded him solemnly, only continuing his examination without meeting Gin's slitted eyes, "but I understand. It's not easy realizing that you have lost all freedom to control your own destiny. But this is a result of your own choices. You...do see that, don't you, Gin?"

"Are you saying I chose to be used by that horrible, maniacal scientist? That I wanted to be raped and impregnated by you?"

"You know very well I didn't rape you, Gin. Neither one of us was in control. Some mechanism caused us to submit to whatever programming Kurotsuchi Mayuri instilled in us. I am working to discover exactly what he did and what methods he used, but it will go more smoothly if you cease your efforts to gradually destroy yourself. Believe me, I want you to die as much as you want to die right now. I just can't accommodate our mutual wishes until I get to the bottom of this."

"I don't care what you do," Gin said wearily, "Don't you understand what's happened? Soul Society has been destroyed. She is probably dead...not that she wasn't half dead inside after what you did to her."

Aizen paused and gave him a curious look.

"Is that what your strange behavior is all about?" he asked, frowning, "That I took a piece of her soul to feed to the hougyoku? Is she really that important to you, Gin? That's very odd, considering the lack of interest you have in maintaining bonds with most people."

"She was different."

"Different how?" Aizen inquired, "You were...in love with her?"

"No," Gin said, closing his eyes for a moment, "She was my friend."

Aizen smiled in amusement.

"I didn't know snakes had friends, Gin. How very sentimental of you...and how very foolish. You should have known better."

"I should have known better about a lot of things," Gin said cryptically, earning another intensely curious look from Aizen.

"Can I ask you something else?" he inquired, pausing in his explorations, "Why didn't you just ask me to return what I took? You certainly could have, given that you became my lover...at least in body? Were you that afraid I would figure out you were lying to me?"

"I wasn't afraid," Gin answered softly, "I just didn't believe that you ever really loved me. You wouldn't have given that part of her soul back if I'd asked for it. You would have held it over my head and used it to manipulate me."

"Ah, a perspective only a truly gifted manipulator would have, ne?" Aizen said mockingly, "You haven't changed at all, have you?"

"Not as much as I would have liked," Gin admitted, "Rangiku did make me feel things other people didn't. I thought I could be different if I could just have her be the way she was before."

"What do you mean?" Aizen asked, glancing at him appraisingly, "Even without that piece of her soul, Rangiku became a fukutaichou. She had to be very talented to do that. Are you angry because it denied her a bankai she could have had?"

"I am angry because it broke something in her," Gin said icily.

"What are you talking about?" Aizen chided him, "She was always charming and gregarious. That never changed, not before, nor after. She was the same person. You just looked at her differently. It may have been me who took a piece of her soul, but it was you who couldn't see her the same way. You do see that, don't you?"

"No, she wasn't the same," Gin insisted, "She tried to be the same, but there was something in her eyes. She could still smile, but it was always there inside her eyes."

"What was there?"

"Why do you care?"

"I don't particularly," Aizen admitted, "but if it will settle you enough to take better care of yourself, I could consider indulging you."

Gin's blue eyes opened and fixed on him directly.

"What are you saying?" he demanded, "You know she's probably dead. It's too late to think you can restore her..."

Gin went suddenly silent, staring as Aizen's hand loosed the tie on his yukata, baring his front and revealing the hougyoku. He paled visibly at the sight of the crystalline orb, his mind firing back to the moment Aizen had attacked him and taken it back.

_But there was one small, stolen moment when I held it in my hand, and it whispered the possibilities into my mind. It could restore her. It could finally give back what he had taken from her. That's all I wanted, but the hougyoku teased me to try to lure me into wanting more. I realized then how dangerous it is._

"You know the power of the hougyoku, Gin," Aizen reminded his spellbound captive, "Even just being close to it can cause it to manifest your desires."

Gin looked back at him in silence for a moment, then his head bowed and his eyes nearly closed again.

"I also know that for the hougyoku to grant a person's desire, that desire must be possible. Rangiku was caught up in the Vandenreich's assault. Do you really think, given Ywach's plans, they would have left her alive? They wanted all of the shinigamis dead! And if she is dead, she can't be..."

Gin paused as the hougyoku flared suddenly, filling his widening eyes with bright white light until everything around him disappeared.

_He reappeared at the top of a white pillar, looking down on two fallen shinigamis and a small female sternritter. The quincy bent over the two shinigamis, her power seeping into them and making their skin turn dark. She laughed at the two as she worked at transforming them, filling them with her blood and tainting them. Finally, she touched them to wake them, and the two climbed to their feet, their eyes empty._

"Rangiku!" Gin howled, shattering the restraints that held him down and surging to his feet.

"Gin, stop!" Aizen commanded him.

He followed as Gin threw himself at the balcony doors and surprised Aizen again by breaking through the heavy barrier.

"Gin!"

Aizen flash stepped after him, catching the crazed shinigami around the waist as he landed on the ground outside their hideout.

"Stop it! Let go of me, you bastard! They're killing her!" Gin screamed frantically, "I have to...!"

"It's too late," Aizen said, making Gin's body stiffen under his hands, "Gin, I saw what you did."

"She isn't dead!" Gin insisted, "That quincy...d-did something to her. It...!"

"If it transformed her in some way, then she is as good as dead already. And there is nothing you could do if you did reach her. You can't cure her, Gin. Our only hope is to remain here and get to the bottom of what Kurotsuchi Mayuri was trying to do."

"He was just a creepy scientist playing games!" Gin objected, struggling furiously.

Aizen sent a throb of subduing kido through Gin's body, making him shudder and go weak in his enemy's arms.

"Kurotsuchi Mayuri knew about the Vandenreich," Aizen corrected him, "and prior to the beginning of the war, he certainly would have been attempting anything he could to come up with something to counter them."

"How could making you rape me and get me pregnant save anyone from those monsters!" Gin panted uncomfortably, still trying to move, but hindered by the restrictive kido, "You're crazy! You just want me to give up and let you do what you want! I won't do it, Sousuke. I'm not doing anything for you!"

Another shock of kido jolted Gin's body, making him go limp and silent in Aizen's embrace. Aizen lifted him gently and carried him back inside. He laid Gin carefully in bed, pausing to heal the bruises on his wrists and arms he had gotten from straining against his bonds and smashing into the barrier.

"Such foolish and desperate behavior," he mused, "Coming from you, it's surprising. But then, I did register in my analysis that the hormones in your body are at intense levels. I'm sure that's what is affecting your emotions...though...it is a little touching how you do seem to really care about her. I didn't think you had it in you to love anyone, Gin...not as a friend and not as a lover. To know you can is...somewhat tantalizing...dangerous."

He thought back again to the moment when he had encountered Gin outside their bedroom in Las Noches, shedding tears.

_If you were conflicted like that, then...could you have really loved me?_

_An enemy who hurt your friend, Gin?_

_Did you abandon your hatred for that time in my arms and really surrender to love? To me?_

_And what would it take to make you love me again?_

_If we went back to that moment..._

He invoked his power before he quite realized he had, carrying them out of the calm, quiet hideout, through the dark cavern and into the pale sands of Hueco Mundo. Together, they appeared as they had been, that night long before, wild-eyed and their bodies wrapped tightly around each other as they made love. They fell into a sweaty tangle of damp bodies, abandoned clothing and tangled sheets, quickly dropping off together. And as before, Gin woke first, and walked outside, onto the balcony, where he stood with his body stiffened and tears leaking onto his face.

Aizen sat up in bed and looked around. He found Gin's shape outside the balcony doors, his body barely covered in his white yukata that was flapping in the night breezes. He approached Gin from behind on silent feet and slipped his arms around the silver-haired man, making him gasp and try to brush away the tears.

"Gin?" he whispered into his lover's blushing ear.

Gin went perfectly still and breathless, his blue eyes opening and looking up at the crescent moon.

"Will you tell me what made you do that?" he asked curiously, "Why were you shedding tears? That's not like you...not at all like you, my little snake. Don't you know that snakes don't cry, Gin?"

"Perhaps I've let you get so much inside me that I'm not myself anymore," Gin answered, keeping his eyes on the moon, "Maybe by being close to you, I've changed."

_I remember that I told him I didn't believe he'd ever really change...and that I loved the snake he was, everything he was. Yes...even knowing he would betray me, I let myself love him, and maybe, because I did, Gin could love me back._

_But what if I had answered him differently?_

_What if...?_

"Then," he went on, capturing Gin's chin and gazing down into his widened eyes, "if you've changed, I will love the man you are now. And if you are different tomorrow, then I will change too. And for all of eternity, you and I will evolve together, Gin...if that is what we want. If that is the destiny we choose."

He felt a tremor in the hands that held on to him.

"Sousuke, if I promise to always stay with you, will you...do something for me?" Gin asked.

_He never asked me for anything before. Could he have been ready to tell me? If I had said the right words, would Gin have...?_

"What is it that you want, Gin?" he asked carefully, "You know you only need to ask me and it will be done if it can be."

Gin shivered and swallowed hard.

"Sh-she doesn't mean anything to you, but she's important to me."

A smile crept onto Aizen's face.

"You want me to spare Rangiku?" he asked, "I know she was your friend."

"I want you to spare her, Sousuke," Gin requested, looking up at him with strangely vulnerable eyes, "But I want something more...and if you give me this, I will swear to love and obey you forever."

"Go on," Aizen said, teasing Gin's lips with his.

Gin hesitated, shivering again and clenching him fiercely.

"Give it back to her!" he managed in a harsh whisper, "Give it back to her, Sousuke!"

Aizen tore himself out of the illusion and gazed down at Gin's unconscious form. He watched in silence as his former love slept, Gin's words from the illusion repeating in his mind.

_And what would have happened if I had given it back to her that very night? Aizen wondered, She would have been spared and healed, and Gin? Would he have turned back from his quest to kill me? Would we have remained lovers instead? Would he have followed me all of the way?_

He realized suddenly that Gin's eyes had opened and were looking up at him questioningly. He looked down at his unbound body and gave Aizen a confused look.

"Why did you do that?" he asked cautiously, "Why did you leave me untied?"

Aizen considered the question quietly for a moment.

"Where would you go?" he asked calmly, "The Vandenreich has conquered Soul Society. They will execute any remaining shinigamis of any reasonable power and they will move on to the royal realm. She is gone, Gin. You know that."

Gin's eyes went back into slits and he turned his head away.

"But," he went on, slipping a hand into Gin's and making it quiver uncertainly, "I will make you a promise...if you cooperate with me, if you give me your perfect obedience and assist me in completing what Kurotsuchi Mayuri began, then if Rangiku somehow survives or can be revived, I will restore he completely."

He squeezed Gin's hand and captured his chin, drawing Gin's eyes back to lock on his.

"I will give her back everything, Gin."

Gin stared at him breathlessly for several long moments, then shook his head and lowered his eyes.

"You're awful, Sousuke," he whispered brokenly, "To use an empty promise like that to..."

"It isn't an empty promise," Aizen assured him, "Think about it. The Gotei was looking for a means to stop Ywach. They failed to do that. But we have all we need to succeed at what they could not. Help me do this, Gin. Help me to overcome Ywach and I can become Soul King. Once that happens, I will have the ability needed to restore her, just the way she was...just the way you remember her."

"You're just going to use me and kill me," Gin concluded miserably, "You have no reason to carry through on what you say. You just want me to cooperate."

"I could force you," Aizen agreed, "but I don't think I want to."

"Cooperation is much easier," Gin said bitterly, "and it's fun, isn't it? When you earn someone's trust and then stab them in the back? Or actually, it was in the heart that you stabbed me, Sousuke."

Gin sucked in a surprised breath as Aizen's hands yanked him close and held them barely apart, with their lips nearly touching.

"You stabbed me in the heart too," he said icily.

Gin quivered under his painfully tight grip.

"I didn't want to," he confessed in a whisper, "I mean, I did, but..."

He flinched as Aizen's hands relaxed slightly and his brown eyes met Gin's.

"There was a moment between us, wasn't there?" Aizen asked in a softer voice, "A moment when, if I had said the right thing, you would have abandoned your plans to betray me...isn't that right, Gin?"

Gin stiffened and made a sound of distress.

"It is true, isn't it?" Aizen asked, teasing Gin's lips with his, "That night I found you crying, you were crying because you couldn't decide what to do...whether to take your revenge for her or to abandon it for me."

"I wasn't going to...!"

"But you were, weren't you?" Aizen pressed, sweeping his tongue across the length of Gin's frowning mouth, then plunging inside before he could object, "You wanted to forget your hatred of me and stay with me, but you were conflicted because it meant Rangiku would never have back that piece of her soul."

"Why are you talking about things that don't matter anymore?" Gin asked, pulling away from him, "She is gone, Sousuke. I know that quincy killed her. And if I help you become king, then you will only kill me too. You already promised me that."

"Now, I will promise you this," Aizen said, taking Gin by the arms and forcing their eyes to meet squarely, "If you cooperate completely, if you help me to overcome the quincy king, then when I am king, I will spare you, and I will restore Rangiku."

"Why would you bother?" Gin asked unhappily, "You can force me to cooperate and become king anyway, without having to give me anything? Why are you doing this, Sousuke? What do you want from me?"

"I want what I've always wanted from you," Aizen said dulcetly, running his fingers through Gin's silver hair and keeping their eyes locked, "I want what you were ready to promise me that night, when you cried after I made love to you. I want your love and your obedience...your complete and undying devotion to the very end!"

"N-n..."

Aizen's fingers touched his lips, freezing him in place.

"Your answer...is yes," he hissed softly, claiming Gin's lips forcefully and pushing him down on the bed.

And whatever objection he might have been trying to raise, Gin relaxed under the weight of Aizen's body, opening his mouth and kissing back, tearing at their clothes and raising his hips eagerly as Aizen positioned his aroused penis and thrust it forcefully into Gin's waiting entrance.

 _How did he get back inside me_? Gin wondered dazedly, _Not just inside my body, but inside everywhere, the way it felt when we were together before? Why can't I resist him? Why is it that I can't care anymore if he does plan to kill me? All I want is to feel him inside me...in my body, in my heart, in my soul. Who lets that kind of darkness in willingly?_

Gin's mind went blank as Aizen's body shuddered atop his, and scathing heat flooded him inside. He didn't know if the scream he loosed was one of passion or horror, only that it made Aizen laugh and hold him more tightly as they collapsed together in a wanton tangle on the bed.

_Oh kami, what have I done?!_


End file.
